


Doctor Who: Quest for the Infinity Stones

by ProfessorWhat



Series: The Fellowship Universe [1]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005), Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:48:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26816113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProfessorWhat/pseuds/ProfessorWhat
Summary: Alone in the TARDIS, the Doctor is conctacted by the White Guardian and receives the task of retrieving the Infinity Stones. Intrigued,  the Doctor accepts, and together with Romana (a Time Lady fresh out of the Academy) and K9, goes on the quest.But soon he finds out this is only the beginning. The quest for the Stones brings the Doctor to interfere in the history of a few planets, and the more he goes on, the more he realizes he is a pawn in a much larger game.A game where an old friend of his will play a pivotal role.
Relationships: Fourth Doctor/Romana I, The Master (Delgado)/Hela
Series: The Fellowship Universe [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1955821
Comments: 3
Kudos: 7





	1. Prologue - Part 1

_Before creation itself, there were six singularities.  
Then the universe exploded into existence, and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated ingots.  
Infinity Stones.  
These Stones, it seems, can only be brandished by beings of extraordinary strength._

“So, you are decided.”  
“Yes.”  
“The consequences may be unpredictable.”  
“You know it’s not a problem for me.”  
“For me, it is.”  
“Then, you shall find a way to beat me.”  
“Will at least allow me to start the game?”  
“The first move is always yours.”  
“Then let us begin.”

“K9, I had a great idea!” said the Doctor, marching into the TARDIS’ control room.  
“Master?” asked the little metallic dog with its robotic voice, turning the little ears towards him. Smiling, the Doctor lied down next to him on the floor (trying not to trip over his scarf), his face on the same level as the nose of his current companion, co-pilot and pet.  
“You and I are going away on holiday.”  
“Affirmative.”  
“A nice, long holiday.”  
“Affirmative.”  
“Would you like that, K9?”  
“Affirmative, affirmative, affirmative.” The Doctor could have sworn there was a shade of excitement in K9’s voice – which was preposterous, of course; as intelligent as it was, K9 was still a machine.  
“Then it’s settled! Halergan Three, here we come!” laughed the Time Lord, as he got up and moved to set the coordinates while whistling cheerfully.

 _Yes, we could use a holiday_ , thought by himself. The last adventures had extracted some toll, and even if the Doctor would have never admitted, he was getting a bit tired. To be able once again to wander from planet to planet, from time to time, after years of being stranded on Earth, had been great at first, but it was slowly becoming less and less fascinating. Yes, everywhere he went, he could always find something new and exciting, but there was also a lot he had already seen. Genuine surprises didn’t come as often as before, and the instances where the Doctor was catching himself, thinking something just repeated all around the universe grew more frequent.  
The loneliness he had recently experienced didn’t help much, even though it was something he chose. Leaving Sarah Jane on Earth when they summoned him to Gallifrey had not been his decision, but not going to retrieve her after that hellish business with the Master and the President’s assassination, that was something he elected. He wandered alone for some time, enjoying the solitude (as much as he loved having humans on board, he was positive fed up of their endless questions) until the stubborn warrior of the Sevateem had sneaked into the TARDIS. He had been reluctant at first, but then he grew fond of Leela, the fierce warrior with her infallible dagger and her unshakeable loyalty – and then, she left him too to stay on Gallifrey and get married to some captain of the guard. He still hadn’t fully recovered from that.  
Since then, he and K9 Mark II (Leela kept the original) had been by themselves, save the brief affair with Ann Kelso and the Sinestrans (whose memory was not very pleasant). Although he loved his little metal friend, the Doctor lacked the presence of another being of flesh and blood, someone young and enthusiastic, able to watch with amazement the wonders of a universe he was beginning to find not so wonderful after all.  
Recently, he had begun spending a significant amount of time remembering his times at UNIT, in his previous body. Just the other day (by TARDIS’ calculations), he passed almost a whole afternoon browsing the pages of a photo album with the pictures of himself together with the Brigadier, Benton, Mike, James and Jo (a present she gave him, of course). Watching at his tall, imposing previous figure with the white-blonde hair, the elegant dresses and the capes, he realized how much he truly loved the family of human soldiers who received him when the Time Lords rejected him. And to think he had been so ready to leave them as soon as he had the chance!  
It was to disperse these thoughts he decided to go on holiday, someplace where, for a change, there would have been no danger to face, no dictators to depose or problems to solve: a pause to collect his thoughts and then start again for other adventures. Yes, it was the best.

“You’ll see, K9, Halergan Three’s lovely. Beaches, palm trees, sunshine all day, hot and ...”

And at that moment, the TARDIS went dark, so quickly the Doctor barely had the time to realize it before everything disappeared. He worriedly tried to bend over the console, in an attempt to see whether he touched something for mistake but stopped as soon as he perceived the doors opening. A golden light invaded the room, so bright the Doctor had to cover his face with his hands.

“Doctor” a deep voice called him from outside, kind but firm.  
“Yes?”  
“Your presence is required.”  
“Look, listen, I, I, I don't wish to appear rude, but who are you?”  
“Do you really need to ask, Doctor?”  
“Well, only a guardian could ... Oh, I see.”  
A rumble of thunder accompanied the sudden realization the Doctor had about the identity of his interlocutor: a Guardians of Time, one of the most ancient races in the universe, so old even the Time Lords respected them.  
“Well, in that case, sir ...”  
“You will come to no harm.”  
“Just as you say” the Doctor sighed, as he stepped out of the TARDIS, into the light.

The light went down as he took a few steps, so the Doctor could see where he was. It looked like a great, flat oasis, with some white rocks and a palm tree. A sweet wind blew around, bringing the singing of birds from afar, but no animal was in sight. In the centre of the oasis, under the tree, stood a big wicker peacock chair, next to a small table carrying a decanter and glasses.  
The Doctor came nearer, and a slim, imposing man appeared on the chair. He seemed to be in his late sixties or early seventies, had a fair but slightly tanned skin around the ears and on the neck. A pair of well-cured white moustaches with a goatee adorned his mouth. He was elegantly dressed in a white afternoon suit, with a straw hat to protect himself from the sun. He smiled while the Doctor approached – or rather, he stretched his lips in a slightly rigid pose.

“Welcome, Doctor. You know who am I?”  
“A Guardian of Time, sir, one of the two watching over ...”  
“Which one?”  
“Oh, that’s a tricky question; you are famous for changing your shapes. However, should I judge from appearances, I’d say the White Guardian.”  
“And you would be correct. Wine?”  
“No, thank you, sir. Maybe some tea” the Doctor refused. The Guardian nodded and poured himself a glass of wine.  
“Doctor, you have been chosen for a vitally important task.”  
“That’s very flattering, sir.”  
“It concerns the Infinity Stones. You know of them?”  
“Well, I’ve heard a few stories” answered the Doctor, scratching the back of his head. “Old legends, myths, that sort of thing ...”  
“It is no myth, and you know it, Doctor, or you wouldn’t try to deny it.”  
“Sorry, sir” the Doctor nodded. He should have known better than trying to lie to a Guardian. Of course, he knew the Infinity Stones: every Time Lord learned the story of the six relics dispersed across the universe, hidden to prevent anyone from using them.

The Guardian waved a hand, and a holographic image of six stones of different colours (blue, purple, red, orange, yellow, green) appeared.  
“Space, Power, Reality, Mind, Soul, Time, the six basic aspects of everything this universe contains. They could give the power of a god to anyone who’d grasp them.”  
“And what has that to do with me?”  
“I want you to retrieve them for me, Doctor.”  
“What? Why?”  
“No matter how well a thing is hidden, it cannot stay so forever. Life in the universe is too chaotic and unruled for the Stones not to be found. Some of them have already been discovered, and used by single people or entire nations for their purposes.”  
“And you didn’t prevent it?”  
“You amaze me, Doctor,” said the Guardian, amused. “Your travels should have taught you that good and evil do not come out from the tools themselves, but from how they are used. The same Stone that allows a people to defeat their enemies in battle and rule over them is also the same one giving them a chance for technological and cultural advancements, thus making it more civilized: good and evil, Doctor, sometime contemporarily. You also have to take into account that only a small amount of people in the universe capable of understanding what they have, and even less that would dare to wield such a power.”  
“So, what changed?”  
“Such a time is approaching” rumbled the Guardian’s voice, now deep as the thunder. Someone will search the Stones, put them together and use them to do something he thinks it’s okay. To prevent this, or to create the chain of events which will ultimately defeat him, the Stones have to be found and once again hidden in selected points in history.”  
“I see your point ... maybe” the Doctor whispered unsure, before clearing his voice. “Look, I’m sure there must be plenty of other people who’d be delighted to ...”  
“I have chosen you.”  
“Yes, I was afraid you’d say something like that” sighed the Doctor. “I don’t suppose you’d tell me why.”  
“Who else in the universe has travelled as you did? This is the fourth life you spend exploring, picking up information and intervening where it’s necessary to fight monsters and defeat injustice. Such a long journey has surely given you the necessary knowledge and experience for the task.”  
“Perhaps ...”  
“What’s more, your integrity ensures me you won’t be corrupted by the power the Stones could offer you. Surely he who refused the offer of Azal of Dæmos, or decided against using the Doomsday Weapon on Uxarieus, will be more than capable of dealing with the Infinity Stones.”  
“Oh ...” smiled the Doctor flattered. “You are too kind.”  
“And then there are other reasons concerning your future, which I shall not say for now” finished the Guardian, putting the empty glass back on the table. “Satisfied?”  
_Not really_ , would have liked to say the Doctor. All the idea seemed just absurd to him: the Infinity Stones? What being with a minimum of good sense would have gone searching for them? And what the hell would he do with them, aside from fixing the universe to tea time (not a bad idea, honestly)? And most of all, why should he care? He was going on holiday!  
“What if I refuse?” he asked, mustering all his courage. He was aware the Guardian’s answer to that question could be unpleasant.  
“I will find someone else.”  
“You mean nothing will happen to me?”  
“Nothing at all. Ever. I don’t want to force your will. If you refuse and go on with your holiday, you are free to do so.”  
And the Doctor did precisely that. He turned his back and took a step towards the TARDIS and his holiday on Halergan 3, firm on forgetting the entire business.  
By the time it took a further step, he had changed his mind.  
“How will I find the Stones?”

The Guardian laughed. He knew the Doctor could not resist (it was one of the reasons he chose him). He could pretend as much as he wanted not to care, but he had been hooked on since the Guardian appeared to him. How could he not? How could he pass on the chance of performing so great a task?  
“You will be given a locator.”  
“Thank you.”  
“And an assistant.”  
“An assistant?” screamed the Doctor. “Please, sir, on an assignment like this, I’d much rather work alone. In my experience, assistants mean trouble: I have to protect them and show them and teach them ... and couldn’t I just manage with K9?”  
“K9 is a mere machine.”  
“He is a very sensitive machine!” exclaimed the Doctor, slightly altered. “Sorry, sir” he immediately corrected himself. “It’s just ... I didn’t have much luck with assistants recently, and I’d be grateful if ...”  
“You will find your assistant waiting for you in the TARDIS. That’s final.”  
“Very well, sir, if you insist ...” the Doctor assented, lowering his head and moving back towards the TARDIS (not without some huff).  
“One final thing, Doctor,” said the Guardian, making him stop.  
“Yes?”  
“You should know, the Black Guardian is also interested in the Stones, and he too has his champion. However, in contrast to you, the champion of the Black Guardian is not aware of it ... you know, my colleague does not trust him not to use the Stones against him. You’ll have to prevent him from taking hold of the Stones, or avoid he’d take them from you. The Stones cannot come into the possession of him or his patron.”  
“I will do my best, sir.”  
“I am sure you will. Good luck” said the Guardian, disappearing into thin air the same way he appeared.

“I’m so sorry, K9. The holiday's off” the Doctor puffed, back in the TARDIS.  
“Master?”  
“We have a mission, my friend ... and company too, it seems” added the Doctor, once again laying down next to caress the dog. K9 moved the small antenna it served him as a tail, making him smile. The Doctor was grateful for that; he needed it after that last conversation.  
To say the Doctor was not happy about having a new assistant was a euphemism. It was true he recently felt he missed having someone else in the TARDIS, but come on, being alone wasn’t so bad! Not having to worry that he’d put himself into trouble, no explaining to do, keeping for himself his thoughts ... no, it wasn’t bad at all! Yes, he grew fond of both Leela and Sarah Jane (and also those preceding them), but that didn’t mean ...  
Oh well, he’d better accept it. He couldn’t stand against the power of the Guardian, not after he took the quest. He only had to wait for this famous assistant and tolerate his or her existence as long as it was necessary, then to dump him or her off on some pretty, civilized place.  
“Doctor?” a female voice called him, low, dark, very musical and elegant.  
“That’s the new assistant” whispered the Doctor to K9, before turning to watch her – and remaining speechless. On the other side of the control room of the TARDIS, there was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen or at least one of the most beautiful.  
The tall brunette wore a floor-length white dress fastened at the waist; a silver boot high to her knee peaked off the folds of her skirt, and let it guess she had long, slim legs, worthy of a Greek statue. The dress had a little rip on the front, which left uncovered her neck and part of the chest (but not the breasts). Her eyes were dark and deep, calm but shining with intelligence; a tiara held up her brown hair above her head.  
“My name is Romanadvoratnelundar.”  
The Doctor and K9 looked at each other as if neither of them knew what to do. With his mouth open and his eyes wide open, the Doctor resembled a mask, one from whom water comes out in a fountain. It was with a considerable effort the Doctor managed to break his silence and blurt out the first thing he’d pop into his head.  
“I’m so sorry about that. Is there anything we can do?”


	2. Prologue - Part 2

“Come forward.”

The young Time Lady took a deep breath and obeyed, closing the distance between her and the desk of the President. Like all Gallifrey’s official rooms, the President’s office changed its furniture and decoration according to who was in charge. At the moments, its walls were painted in gold, with some green stripes here and there; the desk too was gold, and at this centre was carved the presidential emblem, together with that of the Prydonian clan.

As he walked, the woman tried not to show how nervous she was. If her mates could see her now, they would have a good laugh: Romanadvoratnelundar, the Ice Queen, who faced every exam at the Academy without even breaking a sweat, who graduated with a triple first making it look like she was taking a stroll, now trembled before the President of Gallifrey. Not that she was really scared, she felt only some nervous excitement, completely understandable given the circumstances. It didn’t happen any day that the President of the Supreme Council of Gallifrey and All Her Dominions, Holder of the Wisdom of Rassilon, Preserver of the Matrix, Guardian of the Legacy of Omega, summoned someone to a private meeting.

“Is anything the matter?” asked Borusa, lifting towards her his long, rectangular face, with the great nose and the little blue eyes at the centre of it. He dressed the presidential tunic, golden and white, and on his finger carried the ring with the seal of the President. Romanadvoratnelundar didn’t know that face very well: the man who had been her mentor, Supreme Chancellor and Headmaster of the Academy, regenerated recently, and although this body was similar to the last one, nonetheless she could spot the differences.

“No, sir, why?”

“You’re closing your hand in a fist, compulsively. You do that when you’re not at ease. I know you well, my dear, I can see those things.”

_Damn!_

“I would say you to relax, but given what I have to tell you, it may not be the best thing for you.”

“Sir?” she asked, confused.

“I chose you for a mission of vital importance.”

Romanadvoratnelundar’s back straightened up at once, as if she had been whipped, and the girl almost saluted. “What should I do, sir?” asked, keeping her voice cool, as she collected the hands behind her back. Borusa gestured for her to sit down, then pressed a button on the desk. Behind him, a section of the wall moved up, revealing a giant screen. Borusa pressed two other buttons, and six stones of different colour appeared on it.

“Are you familiar with the story of the Infinity Stones?”

“Yes. They were created at the beginning of time, when ...”

“I didn’t ask you to repeat it, this isn’t an exam” Borusa interrupted her. “Although I am certain you’d be able to tell me the entire piece” added. Romanadvoratnelundar didn’t answer, but the way she blushed was confirmation enough for the old man’s suspicions: his former pupil, as usual, already knew everything there was to know.

“The CIA received intelligence about someone intending to retrieve them and use their power for their own ends.”

“Do we know who?”

“Unfortunately not. Apparently it something due to happen a long time from now, which makes for a very long list of candidates.”

“And so?”

“If the Stones were found and their power stored, consequences could be catastrophic. Therefore, myself and the CIA coordinator have decided to intervene before this could happen.”

“Intervene?” asked Romanadvoratnelundar. “But our laws ...”

“There comes a time, my dear, where we, as Time Lords, have to put aside our policy of non-interference for a greater necessity. It doesn’t happen often, but it is necessary. This is one of those times.”

“I see” said Romanadvoratnelundar, somewhat hesitantly. As reasonable as it sounds, it still went against everything she had been thought. Time Lords were not supposed to interfere in other people’s histories: their power was too great, and nothing good would ever come out of it. To act against this rule was considered high treason (unless you work for the Celestial Intervention Agency, that is).

A shiver ran down her spine, as the thought entered her mind, that Borusa was asking her to join the CIA. It wasn’t something she would really want to. In all her years at the Academy, Romanadvoratnelundar’s only wish was to become a politician, and give her own contribution to lead Gallifrey out of its crisis after the last terrible events, as the assassination of the last President and the twin invasion of the Vardans and the Sontarans. Why should she join the CIA? What did she care about other people? 

“In short,” Borusa continued, “we decided to send someone to collect the Stones before that happened.”

“And you want to send me? Sir, I’d wish to protest. I don’t doubt it’s a task of great importance, but aside from the fact I have no idea how to move in the outer world ...”

“It’s not you” Borusa cut her off. “Even though you would be most qualified, have some trust in yourself. No, you shall only assist and ... the control, in a way, the person we chose. You see, to avoid giving the impression Gallifrey wants the Stones for itself, we deemed it best not to send an official CIA agent.”

“But we can’t trust an outsider” Romanadovratnelundar objected. “It could be dangerous!”

“We don’t. The envoy is still a Time Lord ... _this_ Time Lord, to be precise.”

Borusa pressed again the button for the scanner, and on the screen the images of four men appeared. The first one, on the top left of the screen, belonged to an elderly, serious-looking man, with long silver hair and a black jacket, whose folders he grabbed with his hands in a gesture of importance. At his right, on the top right of the screen, there was another man, shorter and younger, with funny mop black hair, wearing a black coat at least double his size; he had a bowtie on his collar, and his face was contorted into a satisfied grin. Under the old man, on the low left, she could see a third man: he looked almost as old as the first one, but he was tall and elegant, with white curls and a prominent nose. He wore a fancy green jacket with white ruffles. Finally, on the low right, a fourth man appeared, younger than the previous one. He too had curly hair, but his were light brown, and he carried around his neck an absurdly long scarf over a dark brown jacket and a yellow waistcoat.

“The Doctor” Romanadvoratnelundar whispered.

“The Doctor” Borusa confirmed. “I suppose you heard many stories about him, so let me tell you what is real about him. Yes, he stole a TARDIS and ran away in his original incarnation. The CIA caught him when he was in his second body, and he has been condemned to exile on Earth, while also being forced to regenerate in his third incarnation. During his exile, he carried on some unofficial missions for the CIA, and after his help in the Omega crisis, his exile has been lifted. Now, we only check on him from afar.”

“Pardon me, sir, but wasn’t he a suspect in the assassination of Pandad IV? And wasn’t he the President, when Vardans first and then Sontarans attacked the Capitol?” she asked, fired up.

“Is it hostility I sense in your voice?”

“Sir, this man is a criminal! He broke every single rule of our society! He treaded each and every one of our values under his feet! He should have been sentenced to death, not to exile!”

“The decisions of the Council are not something your opinion is required about, and anyway, no deed of the Doctor has never been directed against Gallifrey. Sometimes his action endangered us, that is true, but he has always helped in fixing things. He acts on his own, but he has no malicious intent, and therefore he has my trust ... even if passed the Academy with a bare fifty-one per cent.”

“Fifty-one?” asked Romanadvoratneldundar, amusedly. “But that’s the minimum!”

“And it was his second attempt. Oh, I had to struggle with him at the Academy: he was impossible, absolutely impossible. But his hearts are in the right place, I grant you that. However, it is best to be sure his ... impulsivity does not create trouble.”

Romanadvoratnelundar leaned against the chair. She wasn’t sure what to think. All the business still seemed so foolish to her. Retrieving the Stones wasn’t something she would term a good idea to begin with, but entrusting this task to the Doctor? A renowned criminal? It was sheer madness! How could they think it would work?

“Can I refuse the task, if I want to?” she dared asking.

“Sure.”

Silence fell for a few minutes, as the Time Lady looked at her mentor, seeking in his eyes for an advice about what she was supposed to do. On the one hand, a foolish enterprise; on the other, the possible consequences of her refusal. If the CIA chose to trust the Doctor, this would mean they were really desperate, and in this case, how could she refuse to help?

“How shall I contact the Doctor?”

From below the desk, Borusa took out a casket, and put it on the desk; then, from a drawer, he took a little rod with a button at the top of it. “The Doctor has already been contacted, he’s waiting for you. Once you’re ready, you just press the button and you shall be taken inside his TARDIS. The rod is also a locator for the Stones: insert it into the console of the TARDIS and it shall lead you to them. Inside the casket, you’ll also find something that will allow you to guard the Stones. I strongly suggest you not to open it before giving him to the Doctor.”

“All right, sir. Only one question: what shall we do with the Stones after we recover them?”

“You’ll take them back to Gallifrey. The CIA will choose where and when to hide them again. Is all clear?”

“Yes sir” Romanadovratnelundar nodded, rising from her chair. “If that’s all, I shall go and prepare myself.”

“You do that” Borusa confirmed. “Good luck, and don’t let the Doctor scare you. He is odd, but he is a good man, and if you manage to be on his good side, he can be a good teacher for you. The Academy is useful, but experience is everything.”

Romanadovratnelundar avoided answering to that last sentence: she feared it wouldn’t be a very courteous answer.

***

The first thing she noticed was the white: the TARDIS’ walls were completely painted in it. The round things, typical of the old TARDIS models, were the only decoration. She was a little taken aback by this. After all she heard of the Doctor, she imagined to find a more bizarre, extravagant decoration, not this classical, clean, fresh style. She was also expecting to find herself in the console room, not in some random corridor, and didn’t the President say the Doctor was expecting her? Where was he?

As if answering her question, a door on her left opened. After some hesitation, Romanadvoratnelundar walked in carrying her case of clothes (she took as many as she thought could be necessary). She found herself in a rather large room, with an enormous canopy bed at the centre; a great wardrobe leaned against the wall opposite to where she stood, next to a door which, she thought, was probably that of the bathroom.

“Well, at least is cozy” she smiled, satisfied with this first impression, before reaching the wardrobe. She opened it, took her case inside it and pressed a code on the little keyboard forming the lock for it. A useful little gimmick: when she would close the door, the clothes would automatically position themselves inside of it, ready to be used. On the left door of the wardrobe, a mirror hung, and she took the chance to give a final glance to her dress. She wore a white tunic, very simple but elegant, and her hair was collected in a tiara, which she could take off at some point. Yes, she was good.

A bell sounded behind her (the cloister one, she guessed), and she went out looking for the Doctor. If they had to travel together, it was high time they met.

She arrived in the console room at the same time the Doctor was coming back from his meeting with the White Guardian. She saw him enter marching into the room and lean down towards the metal dog in a corner, speaking to him as a friend, those curly, frizzy hair of him waving rebelliously on his head. He spoke with a low, pleasant, friendly voice. She took some breath, then she introduced herself.

“Doctor, my name is Romanadvoratnelundar.”

“I’m so sorry about that. Is there anything we can do?”

An eyebrow raised on his head, quizzically. _Does he think to be funny?_

“The President of the Supreme Council sent me to give you this” she said, choosing on being professional, and moving to handle the casket to the Doctor. She thought it may be heavy when she saw it for the first time in Borusa’s office, but when she picked it up, she found it was really rather light.

“What’s this?” asked the Doctor, receiving it.

“According to my instructions, something which would allow us to track down the Stones. I was ordered to give it to you unopened.”

“Well, you’ve done it, so I think we shall take a look, what do you say ... em ...” the Doctor added, snapping his fingers impatiently.

“Romanadvoratnelundar.”

“Too long. By the time I’ve called that out, you could be dead. I’ll call you Romana.”

“I don’t like Romana.”

“It’s either Romana or Fred.”

“All right, call me Fred.”

“Good. Let’s take a look, Romana.”

Romana thought to protest, but the Doctor already unlocked the casket and opened it. Words died in her mouth while she looked at the content of the casket. The intern was layered with a red velvet cover, with six empty spaces shaped as what she supposed to be the Stones. Underneath it, a right-hand gauntlet laid, seemingly golden, as great as a normal human hand, cut through by some deep veining along the trace of the fingers. On the knuckles five holes were engraved, of the same size as the ones in the velvet, and a sixth was made on the back of the hand.

“T-that ... that is ...”

“An Infinity Gauntlet” said the Doctor, sounding way less excited than she was. “The only thing capable of harnessing the power of the Stones. Maybe that’s why they put him there, as a way to stop the power of the Stones from causing havoc.”

“Wow” Romana whispered. “It’s ... beautiful.”

“Yes, I suppose it must be exciting for someone as young and inexperienced as you are” the Doctor said, closing the casket and picking up the rod. This shook Romana off her trance: the young Time Lady raised herself in all her height and turned to face the Doctor.

“I may be inexperienced, but I did graduate from the Academy with a triple first.”

“I suppose you think I should be impressed by that?” answered the Doctor, eyes still fixed on the rod.

“Well, it’s better than scraping through with fifty-one percent at the second attempt” she answered, fighting fire with fire.

“That information is confidential!” exclaimed immediately the Doctor, somewhat petulantly. “That President ... I should have thrown him to the Sontarans when I had the chance!”

“Oh, do you want to know how that works?” Romana asked, pointing at the rod the Doctor still kept in his hand.

“I know how it works” he said, defensively. She ignored him.

“You have to plug it into your TARDIS controls, just there. There should be a hole in there.”

“A hole? Why on ...”

“When plugged into the control console, the rod indicates the space-time coordinates of each Stone. It could be useful, don’t you think?” Romana concluded, with a satisfied smirk. The Doctor followed her indications, and once he saw that there was indeed a hole (and reassuring the TARDIS she would fix it ... ), he put the rod inside it, muttering about how all this was ‘very clever’.

As soon as the rod was inserted, the TARDIS moved. Romana looked fascinated the central column of the console rise and fall, shining on the inside of a pinkish light, while the engines resounded in the distance. She studied everything she could on the TARDISes, but she had never been inside one, nor she knew exactly how to pilot it. She felt a hot sensation around her stomach, but didn’t worry: some slight disturbances were normal for a first trip in space-time, she read. She nonetheless decided to focus on something else, and moved to go out of the room, take off the tiara and fix her hair. But first, she decided to check whether the Doctor needed her.

“What would you like me to do?”

“Well, I’d like you to stay out of my way as much as possible and try and keep out of trouble. I don’t suppose you can make tea?”

“Tea?”

“No, I don’t suppose you can. They don’t teach you anything useful at the Academy, do they? All gadgets and gimmickry.”

And with that, Romana decided it was best for everyone if she just walked out of the room, before things became unpleasant between the two of them.

When she came back, a good twenty minutes later, without the tiara but with a mirror and a hairbrush, the Doctor was still at the console, looking at the ever-changing coordinates, and did not raise his eyes to watch her walk in. Romana didn’t bother him to attract his attention, and started brushing her hair, humming a Gallifreyan song.

A pity, the man had such an unbearable character: now that she had the chance to look properly at him, Romana did understand the fascination surrounding his figure. Under the thick brown curls, the dark eyes shone with intelligence, the voice was very beautiful in his amber tones and, while the dress would honestly need some change (that scarf ... ), still it had some amount of taste. The Doctor was not beautiful (not in a canonical way, at least), but he certainly had charm. And then, there was the way he moved around the TARDIS: how assuredly, and graciously, he pressed the buttons and pulled the levers, as if he knew the ship as the back of his own hand, in a way that would have put to shame even the most skilled pilots. Maybe a second attempt at a dialogue would be worth a shot.

“You’re sulking” she teased him.

“I’m not sulking” he replied, annoyed.

“That’s ridiculous for somebody as old as you are.”

“I’m not old ... What?” the Doctor asked, now raising his head, as if realizing only later what she said. Romana put down the brush and the mirror and kept insisting, amused.

“What are you, 759 years old?”

“756! That’s not old, that’s just mature!”

“You’ve lost count somewhere.”

“Well, I ought to know my own age.”

“Yes, but after the first few centuries, I expect things get a little bit foggy, don’t they?”

With a loud huff, the Doctor close the distance between them. Romana had to raise her own head to look at him (he was taller than her), but didn’t flinch back of one step (she wasn’t really worried).

“Now, listen, it’s no good. This isn’t going to work.”

“Doctor, you’re not giving me a chance! It’s funny, you know, but before I met you, I was even willing to be impressed.”

“Indeed?” asked him, suddenly intrigued.

“Oh yes. Of course, now I realize that your behaviour simply derives from a subtransitory experiential hypertoid induced condition, aggravated, I expect, by multi-encephalogical tensions.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, to put it very simply, Doctor, you’re suffering from a massive compensation syndrome.”

Offended, the Doctor opened his mouth to reply, but at that moment the TARDIS stopped moving, and the noise of the materialization echoed inside the room. Both of them rushed to the console to look at the coordinates, letting their dispute go.

“Jotunheim” the Doctor murmured, recognising the numbers. “The ice world, home to a race of Giants, not renowned for their friendliness.”

“Have you been here already?”

“Not that I remember, but one of the advantages of experience is that you get every sort of information, usually those not in the books. Good, I could show you right away if I suffer of a massive compensation syndrome” the Doctor exclaimed, taking from a coat rack a large hat with great brims. “Now, pay attention. I’m not anticipating any trouble, but it’s as well to be prepared for these things. Ground rules: rule one, do exactly as I say; rule two, stick close to me; and rule three, let me do all the talking. Is that perfectly clear?”

“You couldn’t make it clearer” Romana mumbled. She moved to exit the room, but with a leap she didn’t think him capable of, the Doctor grabbed by one arm and turned her to look at him. Romana wanted to protest, but the expression of his eyes stopped her: they were dark, very serious, with no trace of playfulness.

“Look, I’ll admit that, were it for me, you would not be here, but since you are, I have no wish you come to any harm. Your intellectual faculties are remarkable, but the outer world is not the Academy, so please, please, trust my experience, or you risk never to come home in one piece. Good?”

Romana nodded silently. He really couldn’t make it clearer.


	3. Space - Part 1

The TARDIS landed in a wide, open flat space, at the feet of an enormous ice wall. The ground was covered with thick snow, seven or eight-inch high. On the opposite side of the machine, a huge cliff opened, whose slopes were so steep and smooth even the best climber would have a hard time going up. Behind the machine, the ice wall was solid, and shone with countless shades in the sunlight of the long Jotunheim summer.

The woman found it wonderful. Despite of what people thought, she had a sense of beauty, and was capable of appreciating things other than Death; what’s more, she spent centuries gazing into the pitch black darkness of her hellish prison. As she turned away from the wall, her gaze fell on the wide patch of snow-white land, stretching out from the cliff they were standing on. In its natural white, unmoved by the lack of wind, her eyes found traces of every colour of the rainbow: a peaceful, calm, serene sight. She smiled.

“You’d better wear heavier clothes, Your Majesty” her companion said, handing to her a black fur coat. “Even in summer, this is still Jotunheim.”

She accepted: her black suit with green stripes, though it hung gracefully around her natural curves, was too thin for that cold weather. She briefly considered whether to evoke her helmet, but then decided not to: she liked the feeling of the breeze against her hair.

“What about you, Master?”

“My jacket has its own regulator for internal temperature. I will be fine” smiled the Master, with a little bow, to which she answered with a flattered smile. The more time she spent in her company, the more she liked the man, and in more ways than one, she found out. He didn’t look young (although you could never tell with Time Lords): his hair, moustaches and goatee beard were streaked with gray; but in spite of that, he emanated such an energy it would suffice for twenty younglings. His swarthy complexion, deep brown eyes and elegant posture made him a fascinating man. His voice was clear, but with wonderful dark undertones, and it oozed with so much determination and willpower, that she was sure it had taken its due toll of victims (once again, in more ways than one). His clothes were simple: a black mandarin collar jacket, black trousers, a cuff-linked shirt and black gloves. Simple, but effective.

“If you wish, we could stay here awhile before going to the palace” he proposed. “Maybe you want to enjoy the view?”

“No, we’d better go. It won’t take long to Asgard to find out I escaped, and if I linger too much, I won’t be able to ask the Right of the Suppliant. You ensure me that ...”

“The Giant king is waiting for you, and I can already tell you he is honoured you grant him your trust.”

“Honoured?” she snickered. “He should be more careful. An honour by the Goddess of Death could be too much for him.”

“You could tell him so yourself in a little while” the Master grinned. His new associate was indeed a pleasant company. “Shall we go, then?”

***

“Oh, it’s freezing!” complained Romana, coming out of the TARDIS, for the Doctor’s amusement.

“I told you to bring heavier clothes” he joked, handing her the white coat fur she left on the TARDIS’ coat rack. They just spent a good twenty minutes arguing how heavy she should dress, and in the end she (the thickhead) just strolled out, thinking that her regulator for internal temperature would be enough: big mistake. As the Doctor learned, it took months and months of travel for the regulator to adapt to the climates of other planets.

“Where to, now?” asked Romana, now wrapped in her fur. The Doctor closed the TARDIS and took a look around.

They landed on the top of a small hill, covered with snow like the rest of the planet, not far from a great mountain, whose peak proudly stood against the sky. At the feet of the mountain, in the crystal-clear air, the Doctor could make out some buildings; one in particular, similar to a circle of ice blades, was much higher than the rest.

“That way, I think. If my memory and the maps serve me well, that should be the Giants’ capital. Are you all right?” he asked, noticing Romana was blinking very rapidly.

“Y-yes, it’s just ... all this white is blinding! I did not expect Jotunheim to be this ... sunny!”

“It’s summer, of course it’s sunny. Jotunheim only knows two season, Suntime and Icetime, both lasting six months, like on Earth’s poles. You could use some sunglasses, I should have a pair of them in the TARDIS.”

“No, no, I’m okay. I need just a minute to get used to the light. Then again, you didn’t take sunglasses either!”

“I have a hat” the Doctor made her notice, slightly bending one of its layers. “That’s enough. But we could stop here for a minute, I don’t think ...”

_BOOM!_

The sky opened over them, and with the roar of a thunder a beam of multicolour light ripped the atmosphere and crashed on the ground, a few feet from the hill they were standing. The earth shook, and Romana fell; the Doctor barely managed to stand by grabbing the TARDIS wall, and he still had to raise an arm to shield his eyes from the blinding light. 

After shining brightly for a moment, the light vanished, leaving on the burned ground traces of melted snow and what looked like arcane symbols, disposed in a circle. At the middle of it, two women stood, of medium height, armed from head to foot with a silver armour, a long blue coat hanging from their shoulders.

“Valkyries ...” the Doctor whispered excited, recognizing the uniform. “The Asgardian military corps, proud and glory of their army! They are all women, you know?”

“Yes, Doctor, I know” Romana answered dryly. “I followed a course at the Academy, I know Asgard’s culture. I would be more interested in what they are doing here.”  
“You’re right, let’s ask them!” the Doctor exclaimed, and before Romana could stop him, he walked straight towards the new arrivals, waving his hand in a welcoming gesture. “Hello there! Are you here on vacation too?”

The two women turned towards him and one of them (white, blonde, with long hair gathered in braids) raised her sword in a defence stance, only to be readily stopped by her fellow.

“For Odin’s sake, put down your sword, Waltraute! Do they look like Ice Giants to you?”

“Sorry to interrupt, but since you arrived near us, I thought it would be best we introduced. I am the Doctor, and she is ...”

“I am the Lady Romanadvoratnelundar. We are Time Lords from Gallifrey, and we invoke the Non-aggression Pact of July 2016/#JA, part 3, chapter 19, article 47,  
comma ...”

“How do you switch her off?” the other Valkyrie intervened, with a sarcastic smirk. She had black skin, and her hair of the same hang loosely on her shoulders. Romana  
immediately shut up, offended, but the Doctor just laughed.

“I shall tell you as soon as I find it out, ma’am!”

“No ‘ma’am’, I don’t like slush. Just call me Brunnhilde, and, as you perhaps heard me shout, this is Waltraute.” The Doctor raised his hat for a salute, to which Waltraute answered by simply nodding (not very chatty, the girl). “And what are two Time Lords doing on Jotunheim? You said you are on vacation?”

“Oh, that was just a joke. We are ... on a special mission from the High Council, a secret one, and honestly also rather boring ...”

“Really? That’s an interesting coincidence. We too have been sent by Odin to talk to Laufey, the Giant king, for a question of the greatest importance. Maybe it’s the same mission?”

“Even if it was,” Romana intervened, “the Council’s business cannot be discussed with ...”

“Do you mind?” the Doctor cut her off. “We are trying to have a constructive dialogue, here! Please, excuse my companion, she just graduated from the Academy, and apparently they did not teach her diplomacy well again.”

“Well, they at least taught me discretion, such as _not_ saying ‘We are on a mission from the High Council’ to the first person you meet, thus inviting inconvenient questions.”

“All right, all right” Brunnhilde raised a hand, claiming their attention. “What do you say we talk about it on the way to the king’s palace? I guess you’d still had to talk about it with King Laufey.”

“Brunnhilde!” Waltraute hissed, taking her from an arm, only to be gently pushed away. “We shouldn’t ...”

“Oh, take it easy, will you? I know this is potentially hostile territory, but we’ll not start ambushing random passers-by. It would seem, Doctor, we both have a troublesome companion to bear.”

“Don’t be too harsh with her, I am sure she is a respectable Valkyrie. Anyway, we accept your offer, it’s too cold out here even for my coat. Shall we go then?”

***

“Welcome to my kingdom, Hela Odinsdottir.”

Laufey, the king of the Ice Giants, pronounced these words from the height of his light blue throne, towering on the visitors in the wide room. The walls of the room were filled with engravings, depicting the history of his people: the tale of a primitive tribe of subhuman people learning to speak and uniting after centuries of internal strife under the rule of a dynasty, changing the habitat around them to suit their cold existence. The engravings were simplistic, almost rude, but they had a clarity which made them the opposite of the pompous ostentation Hela was used to in Asgard (the Giants had never been a conceited race). And yet, here it was the same hypocrisy Hela hated so much: every people tells history as he were the protagonist, and everything he did was rightful.

Hela bowed before Laufey, bending her knee until the ground. Centuries earlier she wouldn’t even dream to do this, but times changed and, if she wanted her revenge, she had to humiliate herself. There would be enough time to make up for it.

“And I thank you, Your Highness, for receiving me, especially given what it may cost you.”

From his throne, Laufey waved for her to rise. He was surprisingly swift for someone of his size.

“The Ice Giants obey no one. We respect Asgard’s will, but this doesn’t make us their slaves” he said, speaking with a rough, grounding voice; his red eyes, two cracks in his dark face, narrowed even more as he bent towards her. “Even more so if, as the Master says, your presence here could be the start of a fruitful partnership.”

“Your Highness, you can be sure of it” the Master spoke from behind Hela. “Odin’s daughter promised her help and assistance in exchange for you recognising her the Right of the Suppliant, and granting her political asylum. Even Odin wouldn’t dare touch a recognised Suppliant. Of course, you’d have to verify her right to such a treatment, but I am sure there will be no problem.”

“You shall have all my understanding” Laufey nodded, with a satisfied grin. “In the meantime, I hope you’ll accept my hospitality.”

“I would be honoured” Hela answered. “I heard great things of the Ice Giants’ hospitality.”

“I am certain of it” Laufey laughed at the joke (Ice Giants were not renowned for being very hospitable). “But I can assure you those rumours are outdated. I took special precautions for my guests.”

Hela wanted to say something, but the door opened to let another Giant in, one of the king’s heralds.

“Your Highness, we have delegates from Asgard. They say they come for the fugitive. There are also two Time Lords from Gallifrey with them.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Hela saw that the Master seemed shaken from this news, even though he tried to hide it. She herself was much surprised: delegates from Asgard, she expected, ma Time Lords? What was Gallifrey’s interest in this business?

“Let them in” Laufey ordered. “A good chance to start the judgment, don’t you think, my lady?” he then asked Hela. She didn’t reply and got closer to the Master.

“You didn’t tell me your people is involved in this.”

“He is not” the Master asserted, his eyes narrowed and his mouth gritted in a worried expression. He immediately relaxed, though, when the group of the new arrivals entered the room, Brunnhilde and Waltraute first, followed by the Doctor and Romana. On the other side of the room, the Doctor too stopped seeing him, surprised by the Master’s presence, and like Hela, Romana too felt the tension in her companion’s gaze and posture.

“What is it, Doctor?”

“Him” the Doctor answered, pointing to the brown, dark man near Hela. Romana looked at him without understanding.

“Who is he?”

“The Master.”

“Who?”

“The Ma ... oh yes, Gallifrey removed every trace of his existence from the Matrix. To make a long story short, if you thought I was a criminal, then he should have a life sentence in the Capitol’s dungeons.”

“You mean he’s a Time Lord? But ...”

“Shush, I shall explain you later” the Doctor cut her off, focusing on what was happening before the throne. Brunnhilde had paid Laufey his due tributes, and was now presenting him Odin’s request to hand over Hela; Waltraute stood behind her, not far away from the fugitive, her hand on her sword’s hilt.

“... therefore we ask you to give back the criminal Hela to Asgard, so that she shall be judged.”

“Nothing would give me more pleasure than obey the orders of the Allfather” Laufey answered, “but unfortunately my hands are tied. Hela Odinson requested the Right of the Suppliant.”

“She has no right!” Waltraute shouted, moving forward. “A criminal like her cannot ask for the Right!”

“Criminal?” Hela asked, a cruel irony in her voice. “Criminal ... oh, the hypocrisy of some! That’s how Asgard remembers me? Me, their greatest warrior? Me, the head of their army?”

“Asgardians don’t even know you exist” Waltraute answered, ignoring Brunnhilde’s warning gaze. “And those who do, think you’re a myth.”

“I’m not surprised. It’s how my father handles things: if you can’t solve a problem, ignore it. A coward’s way.”

Waltraute’s sword came out of its sheath before Brunnhilde could stop her; a blade came out of Hela’s wrist just as quickly, changing into a sword she grabbed. The two weapons clanged against each other in mid-air, and the noise of clashing steel echoed thorough the room.

“Take it back” Waltraute threatened Hela.

“I’d love to, but after centuries in Hel, I’m dying for some exercise, if Your Majesty has not objections.”

“I always appreciate a good fight in my throne room,” Laufey grinned, “but I have to remind you both that the Right cannot be conceded to someone who commits murder before the judge.”

“I’ll be careful then” Hela said, before taking a step back, thus unbalancing Waltraute, and moving behind her. Her hand fell down, as she tried to strike her opponent in the back, but Waltraute quickly turned around and blocked her. She then launched herself forward, in an attempt to harm her at the wrist, but Hela blocked every single blow of hers, while backing down a little to the right. In doing so, she moved closer to Brunnhilde, and she took the chance to slip beyond Hela’s arm, reach Waltarute and hold her back.

“Waltraute, stop! We didn’t come here to fight!”

“She insulted the king!”

“Odin has more than once showed he’s not a coward, it would take far more than the words of a renegade to really insult him. And she’s nothing but a traitor crawli  
ng to a species she herself subjugated to get some charity. She doesn’t deserve your sword.”

“Your Highness,” the Master addressed Laufey, “this is too much. With all due respect for your authority, you can not allow these charges against your guest. If they have something to say they could do at the trial, as the Right of the Suppliant states. It will be then, and only then, that the weight of Her Majesty’s guilt will be determined.”

“And who’s going to defend her? You?” the Doctor asked him, moving forward. “A famous criminal wanted for crimes in at least three galaxies?”

“I’m not the accused party in this, Doctor. My ... client is.”

“Client? What are you now, a lawyer?”

“Even if I was, I fail to see why you should be interested. And about that, perhaps you’d like to explain, Doctor, the reason you are here. You see, even admitting the Time Lords are interested to Asgard’s internal policy, which I doubt, I have the most serious doubts they’d send you as their delegate.”

“I am the delegate” said a female voice behind the Doctor. “I represent the Time Lords here. My name is ...”

“Romanadvoratnelundar” the Master finished for her.

“You know me?” Romana asked, confused.

“You don’t?” the Master asked back, seemingly confused. “Interesting, very interesting ...” he then muttered, grinning. “Anyway, the question still stands. Why are you here?”

“Enough, all of you” Laufey said loudly. He didn’t scream, but the acoustics of the room made his voice fill all the empty space. “As much as I enjoy these quarrels, still I can’t allow you to go any further. I allow temporarily the Right of the Suppliant to Hela Odinson, but Asgard’s delegates shall have their chance to protest against my decision and convince me not to, as the law dictates. Valkyrie, you have three days to prepare your charge.”

“It shall be done, Your Highness” Brunnhilde bowed. “Thank you.”

“Meanwhile, you too shall be my guests. And now, Doctor, I will ask you the question of the Master. You didn’t say what reason brings you here.”

“Didn’t I?” asked the Doctor. “Oh yeah, I didn’t. You see, Your Highness, it’s ...”

“We are here for a mission of the greatest importance on behalf of Gallifrey” Romana proclaimed, moving forward. “Something which has nothing to do with your actual predicament. Everything we ask is that you allow us to stay a couple of days here to accomplish it.”

“And what mission would it be?”

“There is something, on your planet, which could be dangerous, and we have been charged with taking it into custody. I can guarantee you it’s nothing which belongs to the Ice Giants; on the contrary, it’s something you’ll be more than glad to get rid of.”

“Interesting, but this is not enough for me to grant you hospitality. You want to take away something from _my_ kingdom without asking my permission?”

“But we would ask it, that was implicit! Of course we’ll ask you, we would never dare to insult you!”

“Then you can also tell me what it is.”

“No, we can’t. Our mission is secret, and some things we are not authorized to reveal. We are forced to ask you to trust us in this, Your Highness, and we promise in return we do nothing against your people, as stated by Article 89 of the Shadow Procl ...”

“Silence” Laufey hissed, and now his voice was as cold as his habitat. “Some things never change, do they? The Time Lords behave once again with their innate pride. They are convinced they can act as it best pleases them without regard for _inferior_ races’ thoughts on the matter. Well, not on Jotunheim. I’m afraid I have to ask you and the Doctor to depart _immediately_. Come back when your superiors decide to treat a king with the respect it’s due to him.”

In his corner, the Master laughed satisfied, on his face that sickening grin the Doctor saw so many times on Earth, and always made him angry. “Well, my congratulations, old fellow. Pity, I almost hoped in another challenge between us: you are funny in this body. It shall be for the next time, it seems.”

“Wait” the Doctor said. “What if we offer our services for the accusation to Hela Odinson?”

Everyone was taken by surprise by this: the Master, Hela, Laufey, the Valkyries and even Romana looked amazed at the Doctor, while he went to bow down before Brunnhilde.

“An alliance once existed between Gallifrey and Asgard. In the Dark Times, we fought and died together. And if now Asgard is threatened, I, the Doctor, Lord President of the Supreme Council of Gallifrey and All Her Dominions, Holder of the Wisdom of Rassilon, Preserver of the Matrix, Guardian of the Legacy of Omega, will be proud to honour this allegiance.”

“President?” the Master huffed amused. “You? You can’t mean our people chose you as President! Your Highness, this is a trick! The Doctor ...”

“The Doctor was elected Lord President after the last elections on our planet” Romana intervened. “He chose not to exert his power, but he is still invested with the dignity of the office. Anyway, he offered his services to the Asgardian delegates, and now it is up to them: if they refuse, we shall go.”

The eyes of every present turned towards Brunnhilde, who was still silent. In the now quiet hall, her black eyes glanced over everyone. She saw Romana holding back her own irritation, the cruel curiosity of the Giant king, Hela’s cold anger, but most of all, she saw how the Master was nervous, how all the muscles of his face were contorted and twisted. And that was it. She had enough time, during their meeting, to look at everyone, and when the Master offered himself as Hela’s champion, she understood that he was the real key to everything. And now, the Doctor’s mere presence was putting him in trouble. Very well, then ...

“In the name of Odin Borson, King of Asgard, Protector of the Nine Realms, I accept your services, Doctor, and those of your associate. I am glad to renew the allegiance between our two people.”

The Doctor thanked her and got up with a smile on his face, to whom Brunnhilde answered with another one, just as wide. Defeated, the Master retreated near to Hela, the only one seemingly not taken by surprise in all of this. As for Laufey, he accepted the decision and, summoned his chamberlain, ordered him to arrange six chambers for the guests. He then dismissed all and invited them all to the dinner he would prepare for them that same evening.

“What were you thinking?” Romana exclaimed as soon as she could freely talk to the Doctor. “We can’t interfere with ...”

“Interfere? Of course, we can interfere! Always do what you’re best at!” the Doctor happily silenced her. “And what’s more ...” he added, with a serious tone, “something tells me the Master is not here by chance. I think he is looking for the Stone too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case I failed to provide a decent description, the Master featured in this chapter is the one played by Roger Delgado.


	4. Space - Part 2

King Laufey was not kidding: the Frost Giant's hospitality was indeed better than people would think. The room he gave her was wide, well lit, cleverly sculpted in the ice; it had a great window, from which she could see Jotunheim's quiet, white landscape. There even was a small mantelpiece, which made Hela laugh (she still remembered how much the Giants were afraid of it, centuries ago).

First, Hela made herself at home. She lied on the bed and for a whole hour just enjoyed its softness, the heat of the flames, the caress of the sun on her face and body. Then, she elected to go on to more intriguing activities, and have some fun with it. She checked the part of her room dedicated to her toilet (the 'bath', as a peasant would call it), and quickly formed a plan in her mind, before calling one of the servants and telling him to go fetch the Master.

Upon his arrival, the Master was received by the cloud of smoke coming from the bathroom: a sweet, slightly intoxicating fragrance. Hela's black and green suit hung on an ice spike from the wall, who served as a peg.

"Come forward" her voice invited him from the bathroom. Never one to refuse such an invitation, the Master obliged, twirling his moustache. He found her in the bathtub, covered in water up to the shoulders, her black hair hanging out of the edge.

"You wanted to see me, Your Majesty?" asked the Master, leaning lazily against the doorway.

"I enjoy you company, and I also think we ought to talk about what happened in the throne room, don't you?"

"You are worried for the outcome of the trial? I can assure you ..."

"I need no assurance, I'm just curious" Hela said, rising up in a sitting position. The water still covered her breasts, but now the Master could see its shape. "Who's this Doctor intruding in our business? You seem to know him."

"I do. A long time ago, me and him attended the Academy together, I am sure they still remember us. Unfortunately, our paths diverged since then."

"I noticed."

"The Doctor is a simple soul, sometimes a real fool. He barely scrapped through the Academy, and he was always an utter disaster in things like cosmic science and diplomacy. Some of our teachers thought he'd never make a proper Time Lord, and somewhat they weren't wrong."

"So, he's not dangerous?" Hela asked, summoning a towel with her magic. The Master watched her coming out of the water, unravelling her statuary body wrapped in the towel. He said nothing, but Hela clearly saw his dark eyes glistening, and his mouth writhing in a satisfied smirk.

"On the contrary, the Doctor can be a dangerous foe: his intellectual faults are compensated by an unnatural skill to bypass the rules, and find the solution nobody else would ever think of. Underestimating him is a mistake, I learnt that at my expense time ago. Luckily, I also know him well enough to know how to trap him."

"What about the girl?"

"I met her too before, even though I don't think she has met me. True, I looked rather different back then, so maybe she just didn't recognize me. Anyway, she is freshly graduated from the Academy, newbie, whose approbation for what the Doctor does is ..." he grinned, "dubious, to say the least. And we can exploit that."

"How?" asked him the Goddess of Death, getting nearer. The Master raised his eyes to look at her (she was taller than him of the whole head). Black pupils met green ones and engaged a battle of will.

"She is naive. She only knows of history what she was taught on Gallifrey, and as we both know, Gallifrey and Asgard lie about it. If you managed to put doubts in her head about your guilt, we could make her an unwilling ally in our plan. You see, I am certain the Doctor will have her be you accuser ... he gets bored with the technicalities. So ..."

"I like how you think" Hela grinned. "You remind me of my Morbius, the noblest Time Lord I've ever met. He had great plans for Gallifrey and Asgard. If they didn't betray us ..."

"Some say he's not dead, we may look for him after we're done here."

"It could be fun" Hela whispered, leaning to the point of touching his face. "Sure, I'd then have to make a hard choice about who's my favourite, but I know how could I make it fun."

"May I have the chance of starting to collect points in my favour?"

"I order you to do it" she cut him short, putting her arms around his shoulders and closing the distance between their lips. "Do you think you can satisfy a Queen?"

"Galleia of Atlantis seemed satisfied, last time."

***

On the other side of the palace, a much less peaceful and friendly conversation was taking place.

"What do you mean, I should be the prosecutor?" Romana protested. "It was you who did the offer!"

"But you are certainly better than me when it comes to legal questions. Didn't you pass the Academy with a triple first, didn't you?"

"Ooh, now you are impressed!"

If looks could kill, the Doctor would already be a heap of ashes on the sheets of his bed, in the room Laufey gave them (a kind of small apartment with two beds and a bath, in one of the palace's lower floors). The twilight lighted up the room, colouring the ice with a gloomy dark orange flair, well-suited to the situation as Romana saw it: pleasant to view at, about to become dark.

"Don't worry, it should be simple. The Right of the Suppliant is one of most ancient and simple institutions in the universe. Every damned man, or runaway, can seek asylum to any ruler to avoid his punishment; a quick trial will decide whether he has the right to receive it. The judge has to make sure the suppliant didn't commit crimes according to the law of his country, and also whether the guilt he is accused is beyond doubt ..."

"I know, Doctor, I know! As I know the final say belongs the judge, which is, the ruler himself of the country where the suppliant asked for help! And his decision-making ability has no limits whatsoever! The Right of the Suppliant is widely known as one of the most easily corruptible legal proceedings ever!"

The Doctor sighed, as he calmed down. He should have expected such a reaction from her. He offered his services to Asgard on a whim, as a last resort to avoid being cast off the palace; he would probably react the same way, had he been in Romana's place.

"See it this way" he tried to reason with her, in a tone he hoped sounded reassuring. "If we are here, it's because a Stone is also here. Which makes sense, since, as you surely studied at the Academy, Asgard had a secret weapon when our people fought together."

"And that could be one of the Stones, fine. So why are we not at Asgard?"

"Precisely: why are we not at Asgard? Easy: because at this moment the Stone is not there, but here, just at the same time a renowned criminal comes here asking for the Frost Giants' assistance in a civil war."

"You mean Hela has the Stone? And she would offer it to the Giants? Doctor, unlike Asgard, Gallifrey has not erased the memory of the ancient conflicts! We remember Hela and Morbius' affair, and their plot for universal dominion! And you are telling me such a woman would offer the most powerful weapon of Asgard to the Giants!"

"Then explain to me why Odin should send two Valkyries, two warriors, on a diplomatic mission? It's not the custom of Asgard to send soldiers when an ambassador would be enough! But you're right, Hela would never offer the Stone to the Giants. The Master, on the other hand ..."

"You seem worried by him."

"You have no idea. I spent two years on Earth foiling at least five different schemes of him to destroy mankind! Oh, and the President's murder, the one I was framed for? He set me up ... not this incarnation, the next one. If she is here, it's because he's plotting something."

"Then you'd want me to take care of the legal question so you may investigate him? In a word, I should be your distraction?"

"More than that: your official charge as prosecutor will allow you to speak with everyone and search for information without being suspicious. While I'm doing something unorthodox, which is kind of my specialty, you shall move in the limits of diplomacy, free to ask uncomfortable questions."

"I see your point" conceded Romana, writhing her lips in what might look like a smile. "I could even say it's a decent strategy. I just don't like the idea of being the one going to be torn to shreds by the wolves."

"Come on, don't put yourself down, the devil is not so black as he is painted. Jelly baby for luck?"

***

Dinner has been prepared in the huge main hall. On one side, a separate table was prepared of the king and his guests; along the walls, other tables were set as a place for the strongest warriors amongst the Giants, their elite force. Laufey sit in the middle of the table of honour and gestured for his guests to take their place on his sides, separately according to their gender: the Doctor and the Master on his left, Romana, Hela and Brunnhilde on his right (Waltaute wasn't feeling well, her fellow told the king).

"Before I leave you to the banquet" the king said, raising his cup, "I want to remind you this is a holy, inviolable space. Anyone disturbing it with acts of blood or disrespect to another tablemate shall be punished. And now, eat, drink and be merry!"

The warriors shouted exultantly in response to the king's invitation, with the Doctor and the Master both joining them (to Romana's scandalised puzzlement). The servants entered into the room and started carrying around the dishes: big slices of meat dipped in sauce, accompanied with some vegetables. All around the room, people began devouring them, helping themselves either with a knife or their hands.

"Well, Doctor, we meet again, apparently" chuckled the Master. "Pity you are in this body, I prefer the one working with UNIT."

"I should still have the jackets somewhere, if you insist ..."

"No, thank you; if really I have to deal with this you, the least you can do is keep the scarf on. At least, I will have something to smile upon."

"You are of a merry disposition tonight. Did you make something blow in my absence?"

"In a sense" the Master grinned, as he rose his cup to honour Hela with a toast. The Doctor decided he didn't need more details, and he elected to focus upon the food for the next minutes – the same food Romana had currently some problems with, not for its quality (it wasn't what she was used to, but it was decent enough), but for the embarrassment she felt at the thought of eating it with her hands.

"Come on, lady, dive into it!" Brunnhilde encouraged her, while devouring in big gulps a slash of meat of her own, apparently not caring about the stains of sauce on her Valkyrie uniform. "Loosen up a bit!" Romana smiled out of cortesy, and after taking a big breath, rolled up her sleeves and cautiously grabbed the meat. Brunnhilde laughed seeing the grimaces of disgust she made, as she filled her cup up to the edge.

"I know your type. Let me guess: high-class education, all fancy and dandy, nothing allowed but with the right manners? Pretty clothes, jewellery and all the rest?"

"Pretty close. Is it a problem?"

"Not in the slightest: some of my best friends on Asgard are so delicate they wouldn't dare hurt a fly out of fear of ruining their dress."

"Oh, friends? That is what you call them now?" asked a cold, malicious voice from behind them: Hela.

"What they say of the Valkyrie is not of your business, renegade. And it's nothing to be ashamed of."

"I didn't say that, I was just verifying how much it's changed since I left. You know, darling, I contributed to the Valkyries' foundation?" Hela asked Romana. "I prided myself into choosing the ranks."

"And yet you never got the honour of being our Captain" Brunnhilde dryly replied.

"I was the heir to the throne, a princess, and my father's Executioner. I didn't need such an honour."

Rassilon, please, don't tell me I have to put up with this all evening, Romana thought.

"A splendid banquet, Your Majesty" the Master was saying to Laufey on the other side. "Worthy of the power and the glory of Jotunheim."

"Do you concur, Doctor?"

"Oh, I wouldn't say no to some tea, honestly, but yes, I think I concur."

"And this is only a shadow of our magnificence" Laufey sighed, waving at the room. "You should have seen my kingdom at the height of its power, when my father reigned, before Asgard gave us their ... protection. We are grateful to it, but we cannot but regret the days when our dominion extended over every ice region in the universe."

"You don't look so miserable to me" the Doctor objected. "Aside from some leaking pipe, this palace is still a marvel."

"Yes, there is some strength left in our people. The ice must back down before the heat, that's nature, but it knows it's only a matter of time, and nothing will resist it when it will come. We are like the ice. We are not afraid to wait."

"An excellent philosophy, Your Majesty" the Master nodded. "Patience is a virtue too less appreciated, in these times. The art of waiting for the right time is sadly a lost one."

"Oh, I wouldn't know about that" the Doctor replied. "After all, what's patience if not taking time to see where the catch is in a too convenient proposition? You don't look a gifted horse in the mouth, they say on Earth, but I'd say sometimes a quick glance at the teeth doesn't hurt."

"You didn't change at all" the Master grinned. "With your enigmatic pieces of wisdom."

"Neither did you, with your honeydew tongue" the Doctor smiled back at him gritting his teeth. He searched out Romana to see how she fared – not very well, he assumed, given she was caught in the middle of a war of glances and fake smiles between Hela and Brunnhilde.

"We must be boring you, darling" Hela was saying to Romana at that moment.

"Not at all, I'm only doing my best to remain impartial. I shall be your prosecutor, Hela, and I have to know in detail your current predicament, so I can judge with an open mind."

"Thank you, my dear. It's nice to know I can count on someone who shall not be deaf and blind in front of the evidence."

"Which evidence? The one you attacked the palace and slaughtered half of the royal Asgardian bodyguard?" Brunnhilde bitterly asked.

"No, the one I was deprived of what was rightfully mine. Asgard's greatness was the result of my military capacity and my value as well as Odin's diplomacy and strategy, and he was no less bloody than I was back then."

"Odin admitted his fault and ..."

"Did he? Really? Oh, well, this changes everything. I shall go and inform the Racnoss, they will be ecstatic! Or should I first address the Great Vampires? Or perhaps the Frost Giants themselves? Odin approved every single massacre I committed, he called it 'correction for the rebels'."

"If that is true, I am afraid it's a point in her favour" commented Romana. "Against her, though, there is still the revolt against her sovereign and father, and if that's the reason why she was banished, it will probably be a decisive point for the verdict."

"Thank you, darling" Brunnhilde replied, mocking Hela, who just sipped her cup.

***

After the dinner ended, Laufey got up and ordered everyone to follow him in the castle's yard, a giant circle, encircled between high walls of ice, on which seats had been carved. Laufey took his seat in the highest one, as his people cheered him. In spite of the clock signalling it was night-time, the sun was still shining (in Jotunheim during summer there were only four hours of darkness).

"And now, my noble guests, me and my soldiers will offer you a taste of one of our favourite pastimes! Release the Beast!"

From the opposite side to Laufey, a gate opened crackling. From the darkness behind it, muffled thuds were heard, whose impact made the ground shake, while an initially low growling became stronger and stronger. The Frost Beast at last came out: a giant lizard with bulging red eyes, dark green skin, iron-clawed paws and a stinger at the end of his tail. It roared at the crowd, opening its jaws in a coarse sound echoing towards the palace.

"Oh, this is going to be fun" whispered Brunnhilde excitedly, earning herself a worried glance by Romana. The Doctor didn't look too pleased as well, but he kept munching a jelly baby.

"Ladies and gentlemen" said Laufey to his guests, "before allowing my warriors to face the Beast, it is customary I offer you the privilege of facing it yourselves. Some of you would like to try?"

"I pass" the Doctor said; the Master and Romana did so too.

"I gladly accept" said instead Hela. "And I have an idea to make it more interesting. Valkyrie, what about a challenge? Show me your valour."

"Absolutely not!" Romana intervened. "It is not suitable to an official Asgard delegate ..."

"Challenge accepted" Brunnhilde cut her off, taking her sword out of her sheath. "I am curious to see the greatest warrior of Asgard in action."

"Perfect!" Laufey laughed. "People, we have a challenge between our guests!" he screamed at his people, which once again cheered excited, reminding the Doctor of the supporters of a football match.

Hela didn't waste time. She passed her hands over her hair, and a multi-spiked black steel helmet covered her head, then she jumped off into the arena, in a so spectacular fashion the Giants could not but clap. Brunnhilde rolled her eyes, and took instead the stairs down to the ground.

"In honour of our guests" Laufey shouted, "the fighting shall be at the last blood! She who slays the beast wins!"

"Barbaric" Romana said under her breath.

"Doctor, do you fancy a bet?" the Master asked. "If Hela wins, you withdraw the offer of your services and go your way."

"Agree, but if Brunnhilde wins, you tell me what you're really doing here."

"Deal. Can I have a jelly baby?"

"No."

Meanwhile, the two women had reached the arena, and were now standing in front of the beast, which smelled them and turned slowly towards them. Hela e Brunnhilde exchanged a glance, who knows whether of challenge or comprehension; then the Goddess of Death attacked, launching one of her spears against the monster's face. The beast took the hit and turned in her direction. Hela grinned, and threw two other blades against its eyes.

"What is she doing?" asked Romana. "It will make it angry!"

"That's the idea" the Master dryly commented.

"But ..."

"Thus, it will lose control and it would be easier to hit it in a soft spot" the Doctor cut her off. Romana noticed, relieved, that he too didn't seem to enjoy himself.

Now teased, the beast charged against Hela, which jumped aside avoiding it, while at the same time taking out another blade from her suit. She tried to rise her against the beast's neck, but the ice proved too slippery and she lost her balance. Her blade just scratched the beast, as it crashed against one of the ice walls.

It was Brunnhilde's time to jump in. She took a little run-up, passed over Hela and climbed along the long tail of the monster, up to its head, with the clear purpose of piercing the skull with her sword. The stunned beast barely heard the soft, light step of the Valkyrie on its back.

"She is brave" Laufey said. "Even my bravest warrior wouldn't dare such a feat. Let's see if she manages not to get noticed."

Just then, Hela renewed the assault, and this time was able to stick one of her blades in the monster's neck. Caught off guard, the beast jerked back in pain, and Brunnhilde, who was not expecting that, failed to keep her balance and fell. She barely managed to plant her sword in the beast's side, and then remained her, hanging for her dear life. Hela too rose in the air as a result of the beast's movement, and had to concentrate as hard as she could to summon two other blades and plant them in the animal's back, in order to remain attached to it.

"It is now hurt and sore" Laufey once again said. "You'll have to hope your fellows are good gymnasts."

The beast did indeed grow more and more uncontrolled. In the attempt to shake off the two warriors, she jerked violently side to side, like a skittish horse or an infuriated bull; it also turned often his head, maybe hoping to catch one of the two. Hela, with her two blades solidly stuck into its back, could keep some balance, but Brunnhilde was hanging for dear life, and it would not resist much longer.

In the end, Brunnhilde fell (or let go, it was impossible to understand from afar), and the only thing preventing her from a painful impact with the ground was her cape, which she extended and used to glide. Even that, though, could not help her from falling on her back, right in front of the beast.

Silence filled the arena. Everybody knew instantly what was going to happen.

Hela jumped forward, on the beast's face, and as she did so she threw other two blades, just behind the ears of the monster. Then, as it bellowed in pain, she too came off, landing near to Brunnhilde.

"You!" she then screamed to the beast. "I'm here!"

The beast bellowed again, this time in rage, and charged forward. Brunnhilde made to get off its trail, but Hela tripped her over and blocked her on the ground with a knee.

"What are you doing?"

"Calm down, if I wanted to kill you you'd be dead already. I'm just granting you a seat in the first line."

The whole arena hold its breath as the beast got nearer to the women, faster and faster. On the bleachers, both the Doctor and the Master began to feel uneasy. Down there, Brunnhilde, struggling for release, saw Hela summoning blades out of her suit, one of them at short distance from her very nose. The beast opened her mouth, and Brunnhilde realised what Hela was going to do: jump right into it and hit it from the inside with the blades.

If she thinks I'm letting her do that, she is sorely mistaken.

With a sudden move, Brunnhilde grabbed Hela's blade and detached her violently from her pulse, hurting her; then, she released herself and run under the beast's belly, cutting its left hock with the blade. Unbalanced, the beast stopped, and the Valkyrie also cut the right hock. Soaked in blood, but ignoring it, she keep running towards the two hinder legs.

Meanwhile, Hela was on her feet again, and began summoning blade after blade, before throwing them into the beast's throat, taking advantage of her now uninterrupted cries of pain. Meanwhile, Brunnhilde had reached the belly of the beast; undisturbed, she planted her sword into it and run along its entire length, opening so large a wound it made impossible for the beast to recover. Weakened and faltering, the beast fell to the ground, and Hela took advantage of it to blind it.

It only left to decide which one of them would give the finishing blow. The two women met in the middle of the arena, both still holding their weapons, Brunnhilde soaked in blood and giblets, Hela with a bruise on a cheek.

"This is not good" the Doctor muttered.

"Why?" Romana asked.

"You see, milady" Laufey explained, "according to our customs, if there is a tie, the two duellers can challenge each other to decide who gives the final blow."

"But ... this could invalidate the trial for the Right! Every fight between the defendant and the prosecutor before the trial is forbidden!"

"Precisely" the Master closed. Even he didn't look happy.

Hela and Brunnhilde silently confronted each other in the middle of the arena. Everybody gasped as they rose their blades, but they immediately relaxed when they saw them throw the blades right in the monster's throat, finishing it together.

"Tie" the Doctor sighed relieved, as the arena exploded in cheers and shouts of victory. "Your beneficiary is wise."

"As is your ally" the Master conceded. "Pity, though, this invalidates our bet."

"I just hope we're done here" Romana breathed. She felt rather sick.

At that moment, a horn resounded from inside the palace, echoing in the cold air. They all fell silent, and on Laufey's face the smile he kept during all evening faded away.

"The alarm. Somebody broke a law of my palace" he coldly hissed, his red eyes dangerously narrowing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I'd like to thank everyone who read the story and left kudos.
> 
> Secondly, I announce I'm putting this story on hold during the Christmas time (29/11/20 - 06/01/21), because I intend to write a special Christmas story during this time. Fear not, once Christmas is over, I will continue it.


	5. Space - Part 3

Waltraute didn’t say a word. She stood motionless as the guard made his report, telling Laufey how he and his companion found the Valkyrie lurking outside Hela’s apartment. Suspicious, they checked the room and discovered it had been searched; while he himself went to fetch backup, his companion went to catch the Valkyrie. She put on a valiant fight: it took six of them to make her subdue (Brunnhilde’s lips twitched at this). They had to break her left leg to stop her; even now Waltraute was using all her will not to moan in pain.

The guests were positioned around the throne, Hela and the Master on Laufey’s left side, the Doctor and Romana off the stairs, near Brunnhilde. None of them talked until the guard finished. Then, Laufey turned his eyes on Waltraute, red pupils filled with rage.

“Every time I think I heard everything about Asgardians, they prove me wrong.”

“Your Majesty ...” Brunnhilde began.

“Not now” Laufey hissed, raising a finger. “I will hear you in due time, but first I’d like your companion to tell me why a member of the warrior elite of Asgard stooped to such a low level.”

“I am no thief” Waltraute said. “You may ask your guards if they found anything missing from the renegade’s room.”

“And how should they know?” Hela intervened. “I highly doubt they know what you were looking for.”

“I wasn’t looking for riches not for treasure, nor did I intend to steal from you, Your Majesty.”

“Oh? That’s interesting” Laufey grinned. “So, you were not looking for anything belonging either to me or my guest, and yet, you were looking in my guest’s room. An intriguing riddle.”

“Your Majesty” Brunnhilde now spoke again, “the reason of Waltraute’s deeds lays in the instruction we were given by Asgard, and directly involve our case. I cannot tell you more now, but I give you my word I will lay down everything during the trial.”

“And how can I trust you? You acted behind my back, broke a rule of my palace and insulted my guest. I am rather tempted to give her the Right on the spot and send you back to Asgard.”

“Your Majesty, I ask you leave to speak” the Doctor interjected, raising his hand. The Frost King watched him curiously for a minute, then waived his hand, giving him permission. “I am afraid that, if you send back the Asgardian delegates, it could be seen as a declaration of war, and ... I could be wrong about that, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to have the mightiest power in the Nine Realms ... or one of the mightiest, at least ... to wage war on you.”

“You underestimate us, Doctor.”

“Not at all, not at all, but even if you want to wage war, I presume it will take some time to prepare everything, am I wrong? And can you really afford such a time?”

“And what would you have us do?”

“You could simply order the Valkyrie to be kept in your dungeons” Romana also joined the discussion. “Closely guarded, and with no allowance to speak with anyone, save me and the Doctor, given that we help Asgard in the upcoming trial for the Right, and if what happened, as Brunnhilde herself says, is directly connected to it, we must know. Every other decision, you will delay it until the Trial is finished.”

“An excellent suggestion” said a voice behind Laufey – the Master. “Your Majesty, I strongly advise you to follow the advice of this young, but very wise, woman. It will satisfy your justice, since the guilty one shall be punished, without causing a diplomatic incident. Everyone is happy.”

Laufey’s eyes went from the Master to Hela to Brunnhilde to Romana. Slowly, his lineaments relaxed, as the rage in his eyes faded, substituted by an ironic smug. Eventually, he nodded.

“So be it. Guards, take the prisoner to the dungeons and put her into one of our best cells. No one can approach her, save for the Doctor and the Lady Romana. Make sure she is well treated.”

***

As soon as the door of the room was shut, Brunnhilde collapsed on the bed. She was exhausted. The fight with the Frost Beast had been tiresome, and she didn’t have a single moment to breathe before this new problem came out. You add one problem to the other, and you end up with at least a terrible headache.

Well, there was nothing to do but sleep on it. She was no use to Waltraute in the state she was now; on the contrary, she had to be in her best shape for the next encounter. Luckily, she had some allies, supposedly. That mysterious Time Lord, the Doctor, and her companion didn’t save her friend for nothing, she’d bet her sword on it. She was just a little concerned about the other Time Lord, the one with Hela, agreeing with their suggestion, but there would be time to assert all that.  
Summoning all her strength left, she was able to stand, and moved her first steps towards the bathroom. She would clean herself, then get a good, long sleep. She really needed it.

She was midway when she heard knocking at the door.

 _Oh no, not now!_ she mentally snapped, and with anger giving her new energy she opened the door in a fury, saw quickly who it was and cut them off before the Doctor had even opened his mouth.

“Shut up! I had to face a giant monster today, and my best friend is currently in jail because of you! I am grateful for your help, I’m sure you’re on my side, I agree we have to talk, but come back in a hour, no, two, and let – me – rest!”

And with that, she slammed the door in their faces.

“I told you it was too early” Romana remarked, amused by the Doctor’s disconcert.

***

Two hours later, now in a much calmer mood, Brunnhilde reached the Doctor and Romana, in the flat space in front of the palace, in what she thought was the Frost Giants’ idea of a garden (the Doctor had the idea of stick a post-it on her door before leaving). It didn’t take long for her to find them. The Doctor was laying down, legs-crossed, his back against a piece of ice, his hat lowered upon his eyes to shield him from the reflections of the sun; Romana sat on a nearby bench, deeply immersed in a book, her white fur elegantly disposed to avoid folds to ruin it. Neither of them seemed to pay attention to her coming.

“I’m ready to talk” Brunnhilde announced. There was no reaction. “Don’t tell me you are sulking for earlier?”

“I am just waiting for you to move a little to the left, you’re blocking my sun” the Doctor replied from under his hat.

“And I am hoping she won’t move, because if she does, she’s going to block my sun” Romana interjected. Sighing, Brunnhilde just sat on the same bench as Romana.

“Happy now?”

“Pretty much, yes. Now, we can talk. Doctor, will you do the honour?”

“No, no, go ahead. Aren’t you the diplomat between us?”

Romana rolled her eyes. “Talking about sulking, see an example. He is mad because he thought he could convince king Laufey to let your companion walk free, and didn’t like me stealing the spot with a more reasonable proposal.”

“Could you please stop it?” Brunnhilde almost screamed. “I appreciate what you did, both of you. I don’t think I would ever be able to convince Laufey myself.”

“You’re welcome” Romana smiled. “But we have to start thinking of a strategy, not least of all because Hela and her advisor, this so-called Master, definitely have one. We need to be allies.” A cough behind, from the Doctor, made Romana roll her eyes once again. “And the Doctor thinks the best way to be allies is to tell each other why we are really here, both of us. So, I’ll start. We didn’t know anything about Asgard’s internal problems when we came here, we are here because the High Council ordered us to look for ... well ... the Infinity Stones.”

“What?” Brunnhilde exclaims. “What is Gallifrey’s interest in the Stones?”

“The CIA ... our secret services ... detected someone is going to use them, in a relatively recent time. We have to locate them, take them to Gallifrey, lock them out and see that this does not happen. We have a mechanism to trace them, and the first stop was here, on Jotunheim.”

“Well, your mechanism is correct” Brunnhilde nodded. “And, as a matter of fact, this is the reason why we are here. Right before Hela broke out of her prison, we received report of a robbery committed at the Repository, one of the most secure banks in all the universe. Two items were stolen, a map of some sort and ... the Tesseract.”

“What?” the Doctor jumped on, suddenly excited. “The Tesseract? Asgard’s ultimate weapon?”

“Yes” Brunnhilde nodded. “Odin decided to lock it away from Asgard when he gave up any military projects. There still was someone faithful to her, and he didn’t want to risk his own weapon was using against him, or other realms. It was also a sign of good will to all the Nine Realms.”

“Doctor ...” Romana’s mind was racing through, extracting from her memory bits and pieces of the Gallifreyan history she learned at school. “The Tesseract ... our histories said it had enormous power. He could transfer a whole army across worlds, open portals ... its energy could be used to make weapons! Some say the first TARDIS engineers used it to develop our transcendental engineering!”

“I think I know what you’re getting at. There is an Infinity Stone inside the Tesseract, isn’t, Brunnhilde?”  
Brunnhilde nodded. “The Space Stone. I don’t know how or when Odin found it.”

“It doesn’t matter right now” the Doctor dismissed her. “Why did you suspect Hela, or the Master, had the Tesseract in her room? It doesn’t take a genius to see that such a dangerous weapon needs a safer way of containment, and a less obvious hiding place.”

“And that’s why I do the talking, thank you, Doctor” Romana cut him off. “But the question still stands.”

“We had to start somewhere, and no, we did not expect to find the Tesseract there. However, we hoped this could give us some clues regarding Hela and her intentions in coming here. It’s no secret the Frost Giant don’t love Asgard, and Laufey is resentful to pay us tribute. She may have come here to gather an army, and if she has the Tesseract ...”

“I see” the Doctor agreed. “And then there’s the Master. He is a renegade Time Lord, with a list of crimes on his head longer than my scarf. Also, he’s my oldest friend and enemy. Anyway, you can be sure that he’s not helping Hela, or the Giants, out of loyalty. He has his own agenda.”

“So, what do we do?” asked Brunnhilde.

“Well, I don’t know you, but I am going to ask Waltraute what she saw” Romana said, rising up from the bench. “As your help in the upcoming trial, I am entitled to visit her, and I have a right of confidentiality. I will tell you what she said to me.”

“Good, you do that” the Doctor agreed. “I am going to retrieve K9 from the TARDIS. He has a pretty good tracer incorporated in his systems, and if I program it correctly, he can track down the Tesseract.”

“Wait” Brunnhilde stopped them, as they were already leaving. “You can’t go off like that, you need information. You” and she pointed at Romana “need me to tell you some codes for Waltraute to trust you, and you need to hear about the Tesseract ... unless you walking away was your way to say you’d just improvise.”

“No, I needed to stretch my legs, but thank you for providing us information before we ask. Very kind.”

***

Not surprisingly, the dungeons were by far the less pleasurable place in the palace. They were dump and cold, only barely lit by the few torches attached to the walls. The guards were also nothing but unpleasant: they didn’t harm her, nor they addressed her, but Romana still could feel their eyes on her body as she stood up, demanding to see the prisoner. Their chief took his time to verify she was allowed to do so, which quite tested her patience (or rather, her impatience), and no matter how much she pressed him on, he would not hurry. It seemed like hours until Romana was finally admitted to Waltraute’s cell; and by that time, she was freezing to death and rather distressed.

Waltraute slowly rose up from her ‘bed’ (a thick block of ice with a blanket on it) and looked warily at her.

“Hi” Romana began. “We have not been introduced yet. I am ...”

“The Time Lady assisting us in the upcoming trial. Yes, I know.”

“Good. Can we also skip the part where I convince you to trust me? We have a lot of work to do, and not much time to do it.”

“No, we can’t” Waltraute snorted. “The mission we are sent on is secrete, so ...”

“Yes, yes, Brunnhilde told us, you have to recover the Tesseract and the Infinity Stone inside it. Now can we ... ?”

“No” Waltraute was firm. “If you have indeed spoken with Brunnhilde, then she has with no doubt giving you a token, or a coded message, which I could recognize.”

“Oh, for Rassilon’s sake ...” Romana sighed. “She told me to tell you that, and I hope I pronounce it correctly ...” and she went on pronouncing a string of guttural, deep sounds, which made Waltraute laugh.

“You need to work on the accent, Princess, your throat is way too close for the Hutt language. But it will do, for now.”

 _Thank the Menti_ , Romana thought to herself.

“Now, tell me what did you find out last night.”

“I searched the rooms of the renegade and her advisor: the Tesseract wasn’t there, as we suspected. In the Master’s room, though, I discovered papers with some mathematic formulas written upon them.”

“Did you take them?”

“No, they were under a sort of locker, beside the bed ... not something made of ice as the Giants do. It looked like he put them under it so that they wouldn’t fly away.   
I tried to move it, but it was like ... glued to the papers.”

“Couldn’t you at least see the formulas?”

“Not in their entirety, the device was very well placed. Anyway, I was on my way out when I heard noises outside the door. I hid just in time. It were two Frost Giants. They came in, used a tool to detach the papers from the device and went out. One of them looked at them and smiled: he said the Master had kept his end of the bargain. I tried to follow them, and it was then the guards saw me.”

“Have you seen where they went?”

“Yeah” Waltraute nodded. “They took some stairs to the lower levels. They have mentioned a laboratory, which honestly surprises me. Since when do the Frost Giants care for science?”

“Since when indeed” Romana sighed. “I shall report this to Brunnhilde as soon as I can. Now ...”

“One other thing: the renegade. They didn’t talk at all about her. They kept referring to the Master, and the Master only, as if she wasn’t part of the picture.”

“Did they?” Romana smiled. “That’s intriguing, thank you very much. Now, I am sorry to bother you, but I really need you to fill me in about Hela. I think I need a recap in Asgardian history.”

***

“ _I detect no traces of gamma rays in the palace, master._ ”

“What? Are you sure?” the Doctor asked.

“ _100 % sure. There is no object in the palace emitting gamma radiation._ ”

“So, the Tesseract is not in the palace?” Brunnhilde asked. “That’s just great.”

“But logical nonetheless” the Doctor sighed. “If Laufey is really plotting to rebel against Asgard, I suspect it won’t be clever to keep the Tesseract when an Asgardian envoy could find it.”

“Then what do we do? Start start going around Lafey’s kingdom with a metal dog?”

“ _I do detect something else, though, master._ ”

“Really? What, tell us!”

“ _There is something distorting the signals, master. It may be an attempt to cover the gamma waves._ ”

“Good job, K9! Can you trace back the source?”

“ _It will take time, master. This cover is very uneasy to read. Estimated time to end ... thirteen hours and forty-two minutes._ ”

“What?” Brunnhilde screams. “I thought your dog was supposed to be a very advanced computer!”

“He is” the Doctor retorted. “And the Frost Giants are not an highly scientific people, so this means the Master is behind this: he is good at science, very good unfortunately.”

“ _May I suggest an alternative, master?_ ”

“Go on, K9.”

“ _Supposing that this Master is the creator of the distortion, it would be logical to find his place of hiding and search here._ ”

“So that if we found the origin of the distortion, we can disable it, and then you will trace the Tesseract. Oh, that is brilliant, K9! Good dog!”

“Except, I don’t think guards will allow us to enter in his room at the palace, not after Waltraute’s attempt.”

“We don’t need to” the Doctor grinned. “K9, search for traces of artron energy. We go to the Master’s TARDIS.”

***

Romana came out of Waltraute’s cell wishing for a hot cup of something and some blankets, and also for a moment to sit down and process everything she has been told. She had to inform the Doctor and Brunnhilde, of course, but she had to form her own judgment and thinking of the best line to sustain the Valkyries’ case.   
Lucky for her, it didn’t seem a very difficult case; on the contrary, it seemed quite simple. Hela was the right-hand woman of Odin, but rebelled against him when he changed policy; she killed other Asgardians, and now she was defiantly betraying her own planet by giving the Giants the biggest weapon in Asgard. She clearly was not qualified for the Suppliant’s Right. Of course, Romana knew that now she had to hear Hela’s version, at least out of courtesy, but that could w...

“Hello, my dear.”

_Oh no._

Hela stood at the entrance of the dungeons, amongst the guards. She had changed in a greyish fur coat and a tiara; at her fingers, she had some shining rings. Even in her state of mind, Romana had to admit she now looked much more like a princess.

“I hope I am not intruding. They told me you went to talk with the Valkyrie in the dungeon.”

“So?”

“I assume she gave you her version of the facts concerning my past guilt. I was hoping you would like to hear my version too.”

“Another time, perhaps. At the moment, I am very cold, and ...”

“I also made prepare some food and wine in my room. It’s almost lunch time, and I thought you may appreciate a more ... comforting situation where to speak” Hela added. Romana briefly thought of refusing, but her grumbling stomach and her almost-frozen fingers reacted loud and clear. And her brain also added that, in this way, she could prepare a more complete case, and everything would then be over.

“Alright, then. Lead the way.” 

***

“How much farther?” the Doctor asked, clutching in his coat, the scarf raised above his nose. For the last ten minutes, K9 had been leading him and Brunnhilde up along a steep mountain path behind the palace; even though both he and the Valkyrie were in good physical shape, it still remained a tiresome activity.

“ _We are approaching, master. Approximate time of arrival: ten minutes._ ”

“You said that ten minutes ago!”

“ _Sorry, master. I keep calculating speed upon your biological rhythm of walking, and it is growing increasingly slower._ ”

“Well, sorry for us biological beings feeling tired!” the Doctor snorted. Behind him, he heard Brunnhilde laugh. “That’s what you get when you welcome onboard a mini-advanced computer.”

“Why do I get the feeling this is what you normally do? Go around the universe arguing with your computer dog and your partner?”

“Romana is not my partner” the Doctor retorted. “She has just been sent to assist me. As soon as we are over with this quest, she is out.”

“Are you sure? I don’t mean to pry, but you two actually seems to ... kinda work together.”

“Really? How so?”

“I’ve seen it all of the time in our ranks: two individuals apparently incompatible can actually work together amazingly if given a common purpose. It’s how it works for me and Waltraute: I am friendly, sociable, a people’s person, bent on breaking the rules more often than I should, and she is stern, silent, utterly dutiful and devoted, with no distractions whatsoever.”

“Sounds like a match made in heaven, but that’s not me and Romana. She’s not my type of companion.”

“And how is your type?”

The Doctor smiled. “Smart, brave, curious ... preferably blonde” he added, fondly remembering Jo (and Polly). “Eyes shining with wonder in front of the universe, voice filled with enthusiasm, like a ... chicken just come out of the egg, looking at the world for the first time. The gender is irrelevant, I actually had some great male companions” he concluded, as Ian, Steven, Ben and Jamie resurfaced in his memory.

“And Romana is ...?”

“Oh, for being smart, she is smart, they don’t give you a triple first at the Academy for nothing; and as for brave, I honestly don’t know how many Time Lords, nay, people, who’d agree to go on such a mad quest. It’s the curious bit that she’s sorely lacking. She displays what I always hated in my own people, this air of superiority, as if we are too precious to mingle with the rest of the universe.”

“Funny, I didn’t get that vibe from her” Brunnhilde thought about it. “She’s a little stiff, I grant you that, but didn’t give the impression she was dismissive, or arrogant, and mind you, I have daily contact with the Asgardian elite, I know how to spot a snob. Perhaps she’s just not used to this life; you may give her some time and see how it goes.”

“Perhaps” the Doctor muttered under his breath, as K9 came to a sudden halt in front of him. “What is it, K9?”

“ _It seems we have found the other TARDIS, master. And I detect a life form waiting for us outside._ ”

“What life form?”

“Doctor!” the Master’s voice echoed from above, as his owner towered on the edge of the cliff. “You’re late, I was expecting you sooner. Come on, last steps and you’re arrived, I have a cocktail prepared for you and your guest.”

“That’s not good” muttered Brunnhilde.

“No” the Doctor sighed. “No, it definitely isn’t.”

***

“Do you feel better, my dear?”

Romana couldn’t help nodding. After the cold and the dampness of the dungeons, sitting next to a fireplace, sipping some cold wine from a glass after a brief snack, was a welcome change. Almost instinctively, the Time Lady relaxed her back against the chair, whose ice structure had been covered with the skin of a beast, to protect against the cold sensation.

“I’m pleased” Hela smiled. “I really must admit the Giants surprised me: they are considerably less barbaric than I supposed. Granting, Asgardians tend to think themselves superior to all other creatures in the universe, a fault, I think, we share with the Time Lords.”

“Is it a way to tell me you should make your deposition now? Because, let me warn you, I am grateful for the food and the wine, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be impartial.”

“No, of course not, but it was worth a try. So, what did Waltraute tell you?”

Romana straightened up on the chair, struggling against the feeling of comfort: it wouldn’t be useful to anyone if she relaxed too much.

“She told me you were the closest ally of Odin, the head of his armies. She told me you immensely enjoyed that position, in fact, you enjoyed it too much. Valkyries still use you as an example of what one of them should not be: cruel, sadistic, blood-hungry.”

“Interesting.”

“At some point, Odin wanted to stop his campaigns, he had enough of blood and death. You were otherwise convinced, and when the king – your father – didn’t listen   
to you, you rebelled against him, slaughtered his entire body guard and tried to make him a prisoner into his own palace. He barely managed to defeat you. After that, he punished you accordingly, exiling you into the dark dimension they know as Hel, until you escaped.”

“Is that all?”

“Actually, no. You see, Gallifrey has not forgotten about you. I heard you and Morbius were ...”

“Lovers, dear. There’s no need to sugar-coat it. I am not ashamed.”

“Good. Well, apparently you and him plotted to take control of Asgard and Gallifrey simultaneously, and then launch a campaign bent on establishing the dominion of   
our two planets on the entire multiverse. You were defeated, and each one left to the mercy of his own race. And now I think it’s really all.”

Hela took a deep breath, but did not seem to be angry at what Romana just said. This could be good news, maybe after all what Romana told was only what she expected. It was also bad news, though. If she wasn’t at least shaken by the accusations, it meant she had some trick up her sleeve.

“You expect me to deny what you said?”

“Are you going to deny it?”

“I’d like it, but unfortunately it would be very easy to dispel my attempts at lying, so no, I am not going to deny it. What I am going to do, it is to make you see the other side. Correct me if I am wrong, but it is not stated somewhere that, if I prove I was obeying orders, then this would diminish my guilt?”

“Are you saying you attacked the palace under someone’s order?”

“No, I’m saying my war crimes were committed under Odin’s orders. My father can act all noble and compassionate now, but back then? Back then he was an arrogant young king, which nothing could satisfy in his lust for power.”

“It’s your word against the Valkyries, and they are official Asgard envoys.”

“Actually, my dear, it’s the Frost Giants’ words against Odin’s.”

In saying so, Hela stretched her arms and pointed her finger against the ceiling. Romana looked up and her eyes widened. The entire ceiling of the room was engraved with ice sculptures, like those in the palace hall, but this time the pictures were not of battle and glory. This time, all she saw was Giant warriors on their knees, line after line after line, waiting to be brought to the scaffold by Asgardian soldiers.

“The massacre of Muspelheim” Hela explained. “The Giants appealed to Odin for other lands, to sustain her growing population. Odin said he would consider, but he waited as they starved. They try attack Muspelheim, but the Asgardian army went upon them before they could do anything. I was there, with my father. He ordered me to slay one thousand of them, just to teach them a lesson: you do not defy Asgard.”

“Why it is engraved here?”

“The Giants remember everything. On the walls, they put their victories; on the ceiling, their defeats. Every time they look up, they remind themselves they could be better. Oh, and before you ask, every Giant knows the story.”

“This does not make you innocent.”

“But it makes my father guilty. It makes us equal. And I could tell you more, oh so much more, about Odin and his lust for war and power.”

“And you didn’t share it?”

“I never wanted power. My joy lies in the fight itself. I am a warrior, and nothing more.”

“And yet, you went for the throne.”

“Because my father disgraced and disinherited me!” Hela now shouted, with a voice, Romana realized with amazement, full of pain. “Because I couldn’t bear to see his hypocrisy. He did not turn benevolent: he wanted to rule in peace, and understood that convincing the people your rule is good is a better way to do that than continually massacring them.”

“You’d want me to think you’re the victim in this?” Romana replied, trying not to crack a smile. “Do you have any proof of this?”

“You have. As a Time Lord envoy, I suppose you can access the Matrix, can’t you?”

“I don’t see why I should. Time Lords are not involved in this.”

“Really? So, the presence of one of you up there is merely coincidental?”

With a satisfied grin, Hela saw Romana slowly, almost reluctantly, look up and search, until she saw the familiar shape of a TARDIS, and the figure in long, red robes sitting beside Odin, looking at the Giants being executed. The glass fell from Romana’s hands. Hela smiled.

_This is going to be fun._

***

“Ah, welcome, Doctor, and milady Brunnhilde” the Master greeted them, at the opposite side of the large flat space on the top of the cliff. A door was opened in the ice wall at his back, showing the marble interior or his ship. “I am so glad you could join me. I probably should apologize for the climb, but I just love the view from up here, and some exercise never killed anyone, didn’t it?”

“That remains to be seen, with you” the Doctor retorted. “What do you say, we cut away from the niceties and get to the point?”

“Always the spoilsports, Doctor” the Master sighed. “Very well, if you insist. Step in” he said, waving for them to enter his TARDIS.

“Oh, no, thank you” the Doctor refused. “I may look not so serious as when we first met, but I still remember your booby traps.”

“Which at this moment are deactivated. Seriously, Doctor, do you think I underestimate you so much? After all this time?”

After a moment of hesitation, the Doctor entered. The Valkyrie followed, hand on the eel of her sword.

“I believe you’re looking for this” the Master said, pointing at the shining blue cube proudly displayed on a pedestal, inches away from the console.

“The Tesseract!” Brunnhilde recognized him, just in time before a discharge of electric energy came out of the wall and zapped her, making her fall unconscious to the floor.

“NO!” the Doctor screamed, rushing to her side.

“Oh don’t be so dramatic, she’s not dead” the Master snorted, while he set the controls. “I only needed out cold for the next couple of hours.”

“Her and not me? Why?” asked the Doctor.

“Oh, you’ll see, my friend” the Master grinned, as the doors of his TARDIS closed. “Time for a little trip.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SURPRISE!!!
> 
> Yes, I know I said this story was in pause until 6th January, but ... I change my mind. Happy new year to everybody !!!


End file.
